The Confessions of Emma Pillsbury
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one hundred and forty-seven: Companion to Precursor and Memorabilia Emma's kept a secret from Ken, from Will, from all of them.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cycle. Now here's cycle 7!_

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**"The Confessions of Emma Pillsbury"  
Emma, Will/Emma-esque  
Companion to Precursor and Memorabilia**

Emma had learned over time that there were moments where it was just best to keep her mouth shut. The way she saw it, if it wouldn't affect the situation, why would it matter if she said anything or not?

That was what kept her quiet as Ken spoke with Will, telling him how much she would need his help with the dancing part of their first dance. No, he didn't know, and it wasn't even anything to do with having an excuse to hang out with Will. She just didn't see why she would need to tell him everything just because they were getting married… The fact was, though there was a little rust on her, she wasn't as lacking in talent as they would believe.

Her story, her secret… it started after her piano teacher left town. She didn't want anyone but Miss Lizzy, so her piano dreams had ended there. Where they had begun… well, that was from her music box. She'd had it all her life, and she would spend a lot of time pulling the lid open, watching the little ballerina on a spring twirl around and listening to the twinkling tune. She had started her lessons because of it. But once she'd lost her teacher, she'd stopped playing as much, to the point where she'd gotten to where she was today.

For weeks after Miss Lizzy had gone away, taking her piano with her, young Emma Pillsbury had sat there with her music box. It had guided her once before, no reason it wouldn't do it again…

Eventually, she'd had her second bit of music box-inspired brilliance. The ballerina on the spring…

She started ballet lessons, and she showed immediate promise. She hadn't forgotten about the music. If anything, it only made everything better. She fell in love with all of it… she felt so pristine in her little pink outfit, her red hair pulled back in a bun at the back of her head.

She remembered the moment she'd fallen in love with it, too. She'd been at it for over a year, and she'd gotten new pointe shoes. She could hardly stand still, which didn't help her in any way about getting them on. Finally though, she had. She'd spent the good part of an hour on her back, staring at her feet in the air, loving her new shoes, soft pink.

And then she'd taken them out for a spin, or at least a twirl. She felt as though she was a brand new person. And the realization came that she loved it when she understood she was excited only in part for the shoes and in a bigger part for how much she was excited to use them. It was as though she wanted to honor them by getting better.

And for the next few years, she did just that. Some parts of it didn't track well with her personal issues, but she could always manage to deal with it because she loved it enough. She didn't know if she'd want to do it as a career… she did sort of feel as though she wanted to help kids like her, already at an early age. She didn't know how yet…

She was fifteen when it all came to a screeching halt. She didn't understand how it happened, she was so focused and then her foot… slipped. She fell, and the pain was immediate. The next little while was a blur, as they carried her off to the hospital.

After the time it took for her to recover, she only ever put on her shoes once more, to see how she'd do… it still hurt, she couldn't do it… After that, she took them off, put them away… she was scared, though she'd never say it in as much detail. Most of all she knew it just never would be the same again… She preferred holding on to good memories if she could.

In a way, it had helped her. She didn't know it at the time, and she had yet to begin to know… But after her injury, she had come to attending performances by her school's Glee Club. She liked to watch them, even if she wouldn't be one of them. And that was how she had first met him.

It was routine that her brother would come pick her up afterward, so when the show would end, she'd go outside and sit and wait. On that one night, it hadn't just been her school that was performing, there had been another one, too. They were really good.

She'd made it there before the rest of the audience had started to come out, and it was as she was moving to sit that she saw it… A golden coin, a medallion… she picked it up before going to the bench. She'd cleaned it out, put it in her pocket just as people had started to come out.

And then she'd met the owner of the coin, a boy from the other Glee Club. She'd returned it to him, they'd had a moment, and then… He'd had to go. She never even knew his name, but she'd still swear it was because of him that she would cultivate her appreciation for Glee Clubs, even before she knew Will… before she even knew he was the boy with the coin.

In the years that had followed, she just kept her dancing to herself. It was like a secret little weapon she had in her back pocket. So sitting there with Ken and Will, she didn't say a word that would negate Ken's request, she backed him up, asking Will for the lessons. She would play coy… and she'd get to dance with the one she wanted to.

THE END


End file.
